Hurricane Harvey

Update on Lake Conroe Water Levels and Releases

The Lake Conroe water level has now crested and is beginning to slowly decline. The current water level is 205.5 feet above mean sea level (MSL), which is 4.5’ over the normal pool elevation of 201’ MSL. The peak water level during this storm event was 206.24’ MSL. The previous record water level for the lake was 205.6’ MSL set in October of 1994.

The current release rate from the Lake Conroe dam is 79,100 cubic feet per second (cfs). The previous record set in 1994 was 33,360 cfs.

One of the most amazing statistics of this event (so far) was the amount of water flowing into Lake Conroe. The peak inflow into the lake was approximately 130,000 cfs. The peak release rate from Lake Conroe was 79,100 cfs. This means that the operation of the dam buffered the peak flow that would otherwise have continued down the river causing additional flooding.

SJRA reservoir operators are continuing to monitor forecasted rainfall amounts to determine when the release rate can be lowered.

Anyone interested in monitoring Lake Conroe levels, releases, rainfall totals, or stream flows can visit www.sjra.net and click on the link for “Lake and River Conditions.”

The release of 79,000 CFS was castastrophic for any structures in its path and the National Hurricane Center had for many days prior to landfall correctly predicted that Hurricane Harvey would stall upon reaching the coast and dump enormous amounts of rain on Harris and other counties. Yet, the people who manage water releases from dams/reservoirs chose to release it during the flooding !!